DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.12609#0218
194
ARTS AND ANTIQUITIES.
Esne. Here is a magnificent portico, erected under
the Roman rule. A row of gigantic columns front
a street of the modern town, and their richly carved
capitals strangely contrast with wretched dwellings
of unburnt brick. The interspaces had been walled
up, and the building appropriated as a cotton-store.
The door was attached to the jambs by a lump of
clay, stamped with a large seal; a clumsy but very
ancient method of remedying the insecurity of a
rude wooden lock.*
On passing the doorway four rows of massive
columns, half lost in a dim twilight, presented a
gloomy but grand effect. When perfect the interior
was inclosed on three sides, and partly on the fourth or
front by mtercolumnar screens. Thus it Ayas usually
in deep shadow;- and the columns, overspread with
colored sculpture and hieroglyphics, gave richness and
variety to the picture. In this portico the same de-
sign is not applied to more than two or three capitals.
The Ptolemaic architects seem to have prided them-
selves on the beauty and originality of their capitals.
They little dreamt of the powers of art being eter-
nally limited to a canon of " five orders! "
* Ancient stamps, probably for such purposes, are still found
at Thebes. It was thus probably that the Holy Sepulchre was
sealed, that it might'" be made sure until the third day." A seal
of this kind was also affixed to the band of papyrus which was tied
round the horns of bulls destined for sacrifice, indicating that they
had been examined and found free from blemish. Herod, ii. 38.
ARTS AND ANTIQUITIES.
Esne. Here is a magnificent portico, erected under
the Roman rule. A row of gigantic columns front
a street of the modern town, and their richly carved
capitals strangely contrast with wretched dwellings
of unburnt brick. The interspaces had been walled
up, and the building appropriated as a cotton-store.
The door was attached to the jambs by a lump of
clay, stamped with a large seal; a clumsy but very
ancient method of remedying the insecurity of a
rude wooden lock.*
On passing the doorway four rows of massive
columns, half lost in a dim twilight, presented a
gloomy but grand effect. When perfect the interior
was inclosed on three sides, and partly on the fourth or
front by mtercolumnar screens. Thus it Ayas usually
in deep shadow;- and the columns, overspread with
colored sculpture and hieroglyphics, gave richness and
variety to the picture. In this portico the same de-
sign is not applied to more than two or three capitals.
The Ptolemaic architects seem to have prided them-
selves on the beauty and originality of their capitals.
They little dreamt of the powers of art being eter-
nally limited to a canon of " five orders! "
* Ancient stamps, probably for such purposes, are still found
at Thebes. It was thus probably that the Holy Sepulchre was
sealed, that it might'" be made sure until the third day." A seal
of this kind was also affixed to the band of papyrus which was tied
round the horns of bulls destined for sacrifice, indicating that they
had been examined and found free from blemish. Herod, ii. 38.